SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s and men’s cross country teams are set to compete at the MIAC Championships on Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. After the Cross Country Championships had been held at the Como Golf Course in St. Paul for 30 of the last 35 years, St. Olaf will be hosting the Championships for the second year in a row. The women’s race begins at 11 a.m. with the men to follow at noon.
The Gusties had last weekend off and most recently competed at UW-La Crosse on Oct. 13. The women took 11th in the event while the men placed ninth.
The Gustie women have seen very consistent running across the top of their roster this season with many racers placing near the top in meets. Lotus Schifsky (Sr., Prescott, Wis.), Gabriela Passmore (Jr., Mapleton, Minn.), Tierney Winter (Jr., Waterville, Minn.), Kourtney Kulseth (So., New Richland, Minn.), Abbie Schnabel (Sr., Hamburg, Minn.), and Iliana Ramon (Fy., Fairmont, Minn.) have been around the top of the pack for the Gusties in almost every meet with their best performance coming in the Wartburg Invite when all finished in the top 30 and helped guide the Gusties to a second place finish out of 19 teams. The Gusties have been in the Central Region rankings multiple weeks this season garnering a ranking as high as No. 7.
The men have been led this season by the trio of Andrew Stumbo (So., Boone, Iowa), Alex Wischnack (Sr., Norwood, Minn.) and Jack Degonda (Fy., Marine on St. Croix, Minn.). Stumbo has led the Gusties in three of the team’s four races this season and has finished in the top-25 in all four meets, with a top finish of fourth in the Wartburg Invitational. Wischnack and Degonda have both also been running extremely solid times for the men with Wischnack garnering a fourth place finish at the Crown Invite and Degonda placing seventh. Ben Madigan (Sr., Kohler, Wis.) and Ben Wicklund (Fy., Marine on St. Croix, Minn.) have also been very consistent for men finishing in the top seven for the Gusties multiple times. The men have also seen themselves ranked in the top ten in the Central Region climbing as high as No. 7.
Last season the women placed fourth at the conference meet and the men took eighth.